THE DOMINIONS
| Date | 01 October 1934 |
| Published date | 01 October 1934 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1934.tb02399.x |
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THE
DOMINIONS
THE
SOUTH
AFRICAN
JOURNAL
OF
ECONOMICS,
March,
1934.
(P.
S.
King
C?
THIS is the first number
of
the second volume of the Quarterly Journal of the Economic
Society of South Africa, yet, in spite of its extreme youth. the Journal now ha3 every
appearance of a veteran publication, and has even managed to secure thirty-three pages
of advertisements of the highest
class,
ranging from the announcements of gold
mi.ning
companies to those of our own Royal Economic Society and Royal Statistical
Society.
Its
contents maintain the high standard set by the
first
volume, and the
Journal,
if
it
continues in the may it
is
going,
will certainly be
a
valuable addition to the relatively
small
number of publications devoted to the serious study of current economic problems.
The first issue of
1934
takes, by accident, almost the aspect of
a
review
of
other
publications.
Its
ht,
and longest, article
is
a
defence
by
Professor
Hutt.
of
the
University of Cape
Town,
of the utility of classical economic theory
a3
an instrument
for examining our present economic distresses and in particular that aspect of them
which is bound up with the almost complete disappearance of free competitiq:.
It
based
mainly
upon
a
study of
Po
recent publications, Professor Chamberlin‘s Theory
of Monopolistic Competition (Harvard University
Press)
and
Mrs.
Robinson’s
“
Economics of Imperfect Competition
”
(Macmillan)
.
Mr.
S.
D.
Neumark sets himself the task
of
reviewing nine recent books
on
the
world agricultural crisis, including three League of Nations publications and reports
of
the International Institute of Agriculture and
of
a
group of members of the Royal
Institute of International
AEairs.
In all cases except that of the group
of
membeIs
of
the Royal Institute the conclusion is that the agricultural depression is due to over-
production, brought about, particularly
in
the case of cereals, where the depression
is
most marked,
by
the technical improvement in fanning methods
in
the oversea
countries.
The other view is that this factor cannot be regarded
as
the main
cause
while millions
of the world’s population exist below
a
reasonable subsistence level. This view, how-
ever, leaves out of account the lack of purchasing power
on
the
part
of
the
poorest
section of the world’s population and also the question of taste. For the first time in
the history of the world, probably, wheat has recently been cheaper
than
rice: yet the
Chinese have not taken advantage of the opportunity to change to the more valuable
cereal, for the simple reason that their taste
leads
them to prefer their
usual
diet. The
review covers such a wide field that it is perhaps not surprising that not much attention
is
devoted to the part played by protectionism in consuming countries
if
not
in
causing
at
least in deepening and prolonging
$,e
depression. There
is.
however, an interesting
comment
on
the
“
back to,,the land policy in indusel countries, endiqg with
a
quotation from Loveday’s
Britain
and World Trade written in
1930,
a
point
may
soon
be reached after which the major problems
of
agriculture
in
industrial
States
cease to be regarded
as
economic and become and are acknowledged
to
be
primarily
social.”
a
none too happy state of affairs for oversea agricultural countries.
A plea for
a
reversal of the present policy of ecoymic nationalism
is
contributed by
Mr.
P.
0.
Williams and
a
review of
J.
L.
Cohen’s Building Society Finance.” with
particular reference to the proposed Union legislation
on
the subject, by Mr.
J-
J.
I.
Middleton. JZfcellent reviews take up the rest,,of the issue; among them that
on
J.
H. Kirk‘s is worthy of special mention, and.
for
those who take an interest in South Africa’s most vital problem, special interest
attaches to
1%.
Hoernl6’s examination of the report
of
an
inquiry into the effects
of
the
copper mines of Central Africa upon native society, made under the auspices
of
the
International Missionary Council.
Son.)
6s.
As
the reviewer remarks,
“
It
seems
as
if
this point has been reached already.
Agriculture and the Trade Cycle
THE
SOUTH
AFRICAN
JOURNAL
OF
ECONOMICS,
June,
1934.
(P.
S.
King
&
Son.)
6s;
THE reader of
PUBLIC
ADMINIST~TION
would probably turn first in this publication
to
Professor Whittaker’s paper
on
Government and Economic Control.” He ranges
in
a
short
space over a very wide field and contents himself with setting
out
the problem.
leaving analysis and the drawing of conclusions
out
of account. One cannot but hope.
therefore, that at some future time he will
go
into this vital subject
a
little more deeply.
As
it is, he shows how the pendulum has swung back from the position of
Iaissea
fairs
of
last century to that of the mercantilism
of
the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eigh-
teenth centuries, but observes that, whereas in those earlier days commercial success
was
436
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